PROJECT SUMMARY The cellular proteome is constantly exposed to a wide variety of proteotoxic stress conditions over a lifetime. These include external stresses, such as elevated temperatures and radiation damage as well as physiological stresses encountered during cellular proliferation and differentiation, such as oxidative stress, or challenges to protein folding caused by inherited gene mutations. A hallmark of stressed cells and organisms is the deployment of a comprehensive stress response essential for the maintenance of protein homeostasis that includes increased synthesis of molecular chaperones that aid in the folding of nascent polypeptides and prevent protein misfolding and aggregation. The protein quality control and stress protection machineries require strict signaling modalities and transcriptional programs, many of which are altered in a number of disease states, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease (e.g., diabetes) and liver disease. Modulation of the stress response also plays a critical role in life-span regulation and aging- related disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's diseases as well as prion-based disease. The 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development and Disease will highlight the most recent advances in biomedical research of stress biology and stress-related diseases. This conference, the ninth in this series, will be held July 9-14 at the Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine. The chair is Kevin Morano (UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston) and the vice-chair is Elke Deuerling (University of Konstanz, Germany). Special emphasis will be placed on diverse model systems that are being used to investigate stress sensing, signaling and regulation of gene expression, including epigenetic mechanisms. Cutting-edge work on spatial quality control and management of protein misfolding at the ribosome will be highlighted. Connections between compartmental protein folding status and disease will be explored. The conference's collegial and scholarly environment encourages vigorous discussions of exciting developments related to several areas of stress research. To promote the development of junior investigators in the field, a Gordon Research Seminar will be added July 8-9, immediately preceding the GRC. Additionally, we will continue recent meeting innovations of poster teaser talks, career roundtable discussions, programming focused on women investigators in the field. The formal scientific program, limited attendance and organized but informal opportunities for interaction make this meeting a preeminent conference promoting deeper understanding of the versatile roles of stress proteins in human health, aging and disease.